Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin and the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots

This cathedral is part of a group of monuments that form this site.

Etchmiadzin Cathedral

This postcard was sent from Germany by Daniela

Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia. According to most scholars, it was the first cathedral (but not the first church) built in ancient Armenia, and is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.

Etchmiadzin Cathedral

This postcard was sent from Turkey by Mea

The original church was built in the early fourth century —between 301 and 303 according to tradition—by Armenia's patron saint Gregory the Illuminator, following the adoption of Christianity as a state religion by King Tiridates III. It replaced a preexisting temple, symbolizing the conversion from paganism to Christianity. The core of the current building was built in 483/4 by Vahan Mamikonian after the cathedral was severely damaged in a Persian invasion. From its foundation until the second half of the fifth century, Etchmiadzin was the seat of the Catholicos, the supreme head of the Armenian Church. - in: wikipedia

Monuments that are part of this site (in red what I already have):

• Etchmiadzin Cathedral
• Church of Saint Gayane
• Church of Saint Hripsime
• Church of Shoghakat
• Cemetery of Congregation
• Archaeological site of  Zvartnots

Fanjingshan

This week 19 new sites were added to the World Heritage list. I had 3, including this one.

Mount Fanjingshan

This postcard was sent by Wei Tianyi

The Fanjingshan or Mount Fanjing, located in Tongren, Guizhou province, is the highest peak of the Wuling Mountains in southwestern China, at an altitude of 2,572 m (8,438 ft). The Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve was established in 1978 and designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1986. The reserve covers a total area of 567 km² (219 sq mi) and is a conservation area for primitive vegetation of the mid sub-tropic alpine region of western China. The rare gray snub-nosed monkey occurs only in a small region centering on Fanjingshan. It is also a sacred Buddhist mountain, a status it has held since the Ming dynasty. Fanjingshan was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2018. - in: wikipedia

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

This site features some of the biggest caves in the World. Reminds me the caves I visited ,also quite big, in Majorca back in 2009

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

This postcard was sent from Australia by Helen

The Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2003, covered 85,754 hectares. With this extension, the site covers a total surface area of 126,236 hectares (a 46 % increase) and shares a boundary with the Hin Namno Nature Reserve in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos. The Park’s landscape is formed by limestone plateaux and tropical forests. It features great geological diversity and offers spectacular phenomena, including a large number of caves and underground rivers. The site harbours a high level of biodiversity and many endemic species. The extension ensures a more coherent ecosystem while providing additional protection to the catchment areas that are of vital importance for the integrity of limestone landscapes. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/951/

Baekje Historic Areas

This is one of two or three sites from where I have postcards with artifacts that were found in the heritage site but are exposed somewhere else. 
This property comprises eight archaeological sites related to the last period of the Baekje Kingdom.

Seoksu found in the Tomb of King Muryeong

This postcard arrived from Italy sent by Marina

The Tomb of King Muryeong, also known as Songsan-ri Tomb No. 7, is the ancient tumulus of King Muryeong, who ruled the Baekje from 501 to 523, and his queen. The rarity of intact Baekje tombs makes this one of the major archaeological discoveries in Korea and a crucial source for the understanding of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

From the tomb, 2906 objects were excavated and subsequently classified into 108 categories. The most important objects include two pairs of royal diadems made for the king and queen and two stone epigraphs containing valuable inscriptions and dates. The epigraphs give the name and age of the king and queen and dates of their deaths and burials, a rarity for Korean tombs. These dates are also extremely valuable as they corroborate exactly the text of the Samguk Sagi. - in: wikipedia

The eight sites featured in the heritage list (in red what I have):

• Gongsanseong Fortress
• Royal Tombs in Songsan-ri
• Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busosanseong Fortress
• Jeongnimsa Temple Site
• Royal Tombs in Neungsan-ri
• Naseong City Wall
• Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri
• Mireuksa Temple Site

Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin

This site was shaped after three centuries of coal extraction from 18th century to 20th century

Pas-de-Calais

This postcard was sent from Italy by Gosia, who recently visited this site

Remarkable as a landscape shaped over three centuries of coal extraction from the 1700s to the 1900s, the site consists of 109 separate components over 120,000 ha. It features mining pits (the oldest of which dates from 1850) and lift infrastructure, slag heaps (some of which cover 90 ha and exceed 140 m in height), coal transport infrastructure, railway stations, workers’ estates and mining villages including social habitat, schools, religious buildings, health and community facilities, company premises, owners and managers’ houses, town halls and more. The site bears testimony to the quest to create model workers’ cities from the mid 19th century to the 1960s and further illustrates a significant period in the history of industrial Europe. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1360

Temple of Preah Vihear

Preah Vihear is an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture.

Temple of Preah Vihear

This postcard arrived from Malaysia sent by SL

Preah Vihear Temple is an ancient Hindu temple built during the period of the Khmer Empire, that is situated atop a 525-metre (1,722 ft) cliff in the Dângrêk Mountains, in the Preah Vihear province, Cambodia.

Construction of the first temple on the site began in the early 9th century; both then and in the following centuries it was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in his manifestations as the mountain gods Sikharesvara and Bhadresvara. The earliest surviving parts of the temple, however, date from the Koh Ker period in the early 10th century, when the empire's capital was at the city of that name. Today, elements of the Banteay Srei style of the late 10th century can be seen, but most of the temple was constructed during the reigns of the Khmer kings Suryavarman I (1006–1050) and Suryavarman II (1113–1150). - in: wikipedia

Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

The Sleeping Lady is now in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valleta but it was in the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni that it was found

Hypogeum and The Sleeping Lady

This postcard was sent by Martinha who recently visited Malta

The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum (underground cemetery) was discovered in 1902 on a hill overlooking the innermost part of the Grand Harbour of Valletta, in the town of Paola. It is a unique prehistoric monument, which seems to have been conceived as an underground cemetery, originally containing the remains of about 7,000 individuals. The cemetery was in use throughout the Żebbuġ, Ġgantija and Tarxien Phases of Maltese Prehistory, spanning from around 4000 B.C. to 2500 B.C.

The Sleeping Lady

Artefacts recovered from the site include pottery vessels decorated in intricate designs, shell buttons, stone and clay beads and amulets, as well as little stone carved animals and birds that may have originally been worn as pendants. The most striking finds are stone and clay figurines depicting human figures. The most impressive of these figures is that showing a woman lying on a bed or ‘couch’, popularly known as the ‘Sleeping Lady’. This figure is a work of art in itself, demonstrating a keen eye for detail. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/130